A health trend which continues to gain significant traction with consumers is vitamin and/or nutrient-rich smoothies and the like. Originally such healthy drinks were only available through specialty stores due to the required use of expensive high-speed blenders. As the price of the blenders dropped, more and more health-conscious people began blending fruits, vegetables and other ingredients for a vitamin and nutrient-rich drink right from home. In fact, the trend did not stop at health drinks, but expanded into blending healthier mixes, foods and drinks of all kinds.
However, it is widely known that a loss of nutrients occurs in foods, including blended drinks, as a result of reactions with oxygen in the air (i.e., oxidation). Research has found that this damaging reaction is increased during high-speed blending. Once this oxidation occurs, it cannot be reversed and the loss of valuable nutrients is permanent.
Further, with the addition of multiple ingredients to a blender container, air tends to push the contents downward. If this occurs too quickly, as it often does in high-speed blending, it can cause clumping and result in uneven blending of the contents.
These undesired effects can be controlled, if not eliminated, with the removal of air from the container before blending as well as with the use of a proper blender blade. Accordingly, removing air from the blender container before blending helps eliminate oxidation and clumping. That is, by removing air from the container, existing nutrients will be prevented from oxidation and the materials within the container will expand, resulting in a finer processing of the ingredients.
Until the invention of the present application, these and other problems in the prior art went either unnoticed or unsolved by those skilled in the art. The present inventive blender provides a vacuum, a unique blade and other features which not only remove air from the blender container, but allows the user to create a better blended product without sacrificing taste, and without a significant loss of valuable nutrients.